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With the present conslusion from climate change models on how the water will rise due to increased temperature, is not parts of the Netherlands no longer viable

With the present conslusion from climate change models on how the water will rise due to increased temperature, is not parts of the Netherlands no longer viable and people and business will have ot move to regions with higher elevation? Should such a drastic move be taking place now, before the model conclusion say it will be underwater? That based on the fact that the 1,5C goal has long since become untenable without drastic action, which is presently not taking place. -

Tomte 3y ago
Do you expect resettling all Dutch abroad to be viable? A substantial part of the Netherlands is already below sea level, even without climate change. Half of the country is less than a meter above.
vermaat 3y ago
Interesting question. While higher water (due to global warming) is a threat to the Netherlands, it feels like The Netherlands may be more ready for it than other countries. The Netherlands has already been dealing with high water for centuries, and as another comment mentioned: half of the country is already below sea level.
Dutchie987 3y ago
The danger from high water doesn't come from rising sea-level. Most of the country is already below sea level and our coastal defenses are ready to withstand the sea for the coming centuries. What might become a problem though, is flooding of rivers. The Netherlands is a river delta for a large part of Europe. Melting snow in other countries gets transported to the North Sea by several large rivers. If (when) sea level rises it gets harder to get rid of al that water fast enough. Perhaps we have to dam up rivers until low tide and let it all out at once, for example. Still, we are on top of it and there is still enough time to build higher dams and dikes. We'll survive.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
While under threat, other parts of the world are much less prepared than my home country, which has a long history of just engineering its way around the issues. We already have parts of the country meters below see level that are perfectly fine. One or two meters extra poses a few technical challenges but nothing that can't be handled. Important to note is that you have to separate averages and extremes. This is the north sea we're talking about. Water levels vary by several meters between low tide and high tide. Averages are meaningless and not a problem. It's the extremes getting more extreme that need planning for. Upgrading dikes and other defenses for higher water levels is costly but doable. The automated barrier closure was triggered by the combination of a winter storm and high tide pushing in a lot of extra water up the river. Add to that saturated rivers draining essentially most of Europe's rainfall and you get a picture of what is routinely dealt with there. The rivers are actually a bigger issue than the sea. Forested areas that used to absorb a lot of water are vastly reduced in size. More extreme rainfall now flows straight into the Rhine and Meusse rivers, which both exit where this barrier is. The solution for this is not more dikes but flood zones. Other parts of the world are much less ready for higher water levels. Florida for example is particularly poorly prepared for even modest water level rises and has much less extreme tides; so the averages matter more. There just isn't a whole lot in terms of sea defenses and other infrastructure. Any storm is likely to push a lot of water in. Combined with even modest sea level rises that means there just is a lot of property at risk.

Tomte 3y ago

Do you expect resettling all Dutch abroad to be viable? A substantial part of the Netherlands is already below sea level, even without climate change. Half of the country is less than a meter above.

vermaat 3y ago

Interesting question. While higher water (due to global warming) is a threat to the Netherlands, it feels like The Netherlands may be more ready for it than other countries. The Netherlands has already been dealing with high water for centuries, and as another comment mentioned: half of the country is already below sea level.

Dutchie987 3y ago

The danger from high water doesn't come from rising sea-level. Most of the country is already below sea level and our coastal defenses are ready to withstand the sea for the coming centuries. What might become a problem though, is flooding of rivers. The Netherlands is a river delta for a large part of Europe. Melting snow in other countries gets transported to the North Sea by several large rivers. If (when) sea level rises it gets harder to get rid of al that water fast enough. Perhaps we have to dam up rivers until low tide and let it all out at once, for example. Still, we are on top of it and there is still enough time to build higher dams and dikes. We'll survive.

jillesvangurp 3y ago

While under threat, other parts of the world are much less prepared than my home country, which has a long history of just engineering its way around the issues. We already have parts of the country meters below see level that are perfectly fine. One or two meters extra poses a few technical challenges but nothing that can't be handled. Important to note is that you have to separate averages and extremes. This is the north sea we're talking about. Water levels vary by several meters between low tide and high tide. Averages are meaningless and not a problem. It's the extremes getting more extreme that need planning for. Upgrading dikes and other defenses for higher water levels is costly but doable. The automated barrier closure was triggered by the combination of a winter storm and high tide pushing in a lot of extra water up the river. Add to that saturated rivers draining essentially most of Europe's rainfall and you get a picture of what is routinely dealt with there. The rivers are actually a bigger issue than the sea. Forested areas that used to absorb a lot of water are vastly reduced in size. More extreme rainfall now flows straight into the Rhine and Meusse rivers, which both exit where this barrier is. The solution for this is not more dikes but flood zones. Other parts of the world are much less ready for higher water levels. Florida for example is particularly poorly prepared for even modest water level rises and has much less extreme tides; so the averages matter more. There just isn't a whole lot in terms of sea defenses and other infrastructure. Any storm is likely to push a lot of water in. Combined with even modest sea level rises that means there just is a lot of property at risk.